Entrepreneurs Share Startup Business Advice

No matter how you look at it, starting a business is hard. One of the hardest things you may ever have to do. There’s the business plan to think over, a name, government policies to consider, how it will affect your family, finances and the list rolls on from there. Some hardened entrepreneurs suggest spending a long time thinking about if that’s really the path you want to take. If so, there is plenty of advice floating around to help you with the grueling journey. Entrepreneurs are always willing to lend their words to the younger generation of business seekers and give them assistance when the time comes. Below we have asked entrepreneurs for their best business advice.

#1 – Learn to Sell

Photo Credit: Ali Mirza

My best advice to business owners would be: to learn how to sell you own product. Relying too heavily of methods that are not 100% controlled by the business owner can lead to sticky situations. The best way to learn how to sell your product would be by simply understanding why your clients would buy the product in the first place and from there, the rest is simple, you need to work backwards from there.

#2 – Examine Your Strengths

Photo Credit: Ray McKenzie

New business owners should examine their personal strengths, understand what they are good at in their business, acknowledge the tasks the business owner does not want to perform, and find assistance to close those gaps. The key to growing a business is to find professional help to assist new business owners in success with those who have experience is solving problems for you. It is costly to make mistakes in areas that owners are not strong and can stop the business from its success and growth. Hire bookkeepers, accountants, lawyers, and consultants. It can relieve stress and solve problems before they happen.

#3 – Learn to Pivot

Photo Credit: Benjamin Surman

One of the biggest challenges I ever came across was learning to pivot. When you go years as a freelancer and suddenly have a lightbulb moment, you don’t notice your change as a pivot. Nope, you see it as something like “damn I’m smart, I’ll make a killing with this.” You see you, you see nothing else. You don’t factor in things as simple as supporting your own family, much less supporting someone else’s family. The same applies if you are working for someone else and then decide to do “it” all on your own. I believe that every entrepreneur should plan and forecast that moment of pivoting. Planning and launching with the mindset of helping employees and help from the start not only paints a bigger picture but also helps you make smooth transitions.

#4 – Automate Processes

Photo Credit: Paul Maplesden

Automate as many of your day-to-day business processes as you can. It’s surprising just how much of your day you will spend answering emails, managing marketing, dealing with payroll, taxes, and all the other small things that come with running a business. Tools like IFTTT and Zapier can help automate regular tasks, and apps like online accounting software make it much easier to stay on top of your invoicing, expenses, and accounting. You want to make sure you use your time as efficiently as possible to grow your business, so spending a little extra time now automating common tasks will really pay off later.

#5 – Watch Every Dollar

Photo Credit: Travis Bennett

My advice to an aspiring entrepreneur is to watch every single dollar you spend, and find a way to bootstrap instead. Instead of renting out a fancy office, work from home until you’ve built the revenue streams that will cover a new office. Go with secondhand furniture first, and seek ways that you can do-it-yourself. Use a website builder instead of hiring a developer. Man your store yourself and learn the ropes before hiring staff. Your first iteration doesn’t need to be perfect, what you need to focus on is ensuring you’re able to win new clients and retain their business, and only then, should you start investing back into your business.